


Goodbye Old Friend

by TheWhimsicalBard



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 10:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12209094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWhimsicalBard/pseuds/TheWhimsicalBard
Summary: Cloud must say goodbye to an old friend.





	Goodbye Old Friend

Cloud looked around at his hometown being a massive, blazing, wall surrounding him. His fingers trembled and his breathing was exasperated. He had found his mother murdered moments ago by his idol Sephiroth. His head raced with thoughts of everyone he knew every second. He couldn’t think about anything other than who else is possibly dead.

“Help me….” A child cried for the spikey-haired soldier. His leg was caught by a burning log that fell from an adjacent house. The soldier sprinted after and lifted the incinerated wood off the child.

“Go, go!” The kid crawled back and scuttled out of the town. Cloud dropped the debris. He shifted focus onto the reactor on the hill away from the village. His brows furrowed. 

“Sephiroth…” He whispered to himself. His fists clenched. He charged forth towards the valley.

He stormed into the metal building, loudly stomping on the beams as he ran inside. He leapt onto the chains surrounding and climbed down to the bridge below. Across the room he saw Tifa kneeling down. His eyes opened at the sight of her. What was she doing here? She picked up her father’s sword and charged into the next room. 

“Tifa!” Cloud tried to yell for Tifa to stop but she didn’t hear him. His heart pounded with anxiety. He knew she wasn’t much of a sword fighter. She wasn’t going to stand a chance against Sephiroth. He went after her as fast as he could.  _ Please don’t let me be too late. _ This thought repeated itself in his head.

The blonde was stopped in his tracks as he entered the room Tifa ran into. His gaze was locked on his old friend tumbling down the stairs before him while Sephiroth stood high and triumphant.  A burning desire to rush in and slay the man he once looked up to ignited in the the young soldier’s heart. He ran up the stairs to Tifa’s body. He gently scooped her into his arms.

She breathed heavily, struggling to speak. “You promised….you promised that’d you come….when I was in trouble.”

“I know….I’m here now, Tifa…” Cloud’s eyes burned as tears began to form. He looked down at her chest.There was a huge rip cutting diagonally on her shirt. She had a deep slash across her chest and was bleeding out at an alarming rate.

Tifa weakly reached out and clutched his chest. His hand firmly grasped the back of hers.

“You’ll be okay, Tifa. We’ll get you out of here, we’ll get you stitched up. You’ll be fine, you’ll be able to walk again, and breathe, and….”

He felt her grip loosening on him. His heart sank. Her hand fell limp onto the ground. 

“Cloud….kill Sephiroth...for me...for my father...and for Nibelheim…” With those words the girl’s head fell back and her eyelids drooped. 

“Tifa!.....Tifa! Please! Stay awake!...” Cloud gently jolted her trying to get a response. The young woman laid still within his arms. After awhile he had given up. He leaned forward and gently pressed his forehead against hers. Tears streamed down his cheek and dropped off his chin. “You can’t be gone…..” He muttered to her. He slowly leaned back.

“Sephiroth!” The soldier looked up at the stairs and yelled his adversary’s name. He gently laid Tifa down and got up to his feet. He slowly marched up the steps drawing his buster blade.

 

Years later Cloud returned to his old friend’s grave outside the reactor. 

“Hey Tifa…..I told you I would come back.” He dropped his buster blade on the grass next to him. He dropped to his knees, looking at the stone. 

“Sephiroth's still on the loose. This guy I met up with, Barrett, and this girl I found, Aeris, are working together to stop him. I promise, you’ll be avenged.” He wiped his eyes with his thumb. 

“I wish you could’ve been here on this journey with us, it’s kinda been lonely. There’s been a lot of eventful things. I wish you could’ve seen the Golden Saucer, you probably would’ve loved it. The gondola especially.”

From a distance Cloud could hear a yell for him.

“Yo are you done yet? We need to get a move on.” 

He clutched the handle of his weapon. 

“Yeah! I’m coming Barrett, just give me a few seconds.” He stood up and sheathed his blade on his back. 

“I’ll be back, I’ll come back when Sephiroth’s defeated.” He turned his back and headed down the valley.


End file.
